As a bemused baseball umpire, with no responsibility to inspect anything, why, based upon the rule wording, do you have to wait untill everything is put outside before you inspect? Maybe a caseplay makes that clear but otherwise it is not.

Basically they do not want male umpires inside the dugout with female players.

Why don't they say that? Why should female umpires have to wait for the equipment to be put outside?

Hope that works out for you. In my area, you wouldn't be assigned many games when word got out, you only do half your job.

If I'm checking equipment and see a bat or helmet in the dugout, I'm just going to point it out and say, "I think you forgot one".

I can't imagine anyone refusing to get the piece of equipment and set it out. On the oddball chance that they did refuse, then we can start thinking about warnings/restrictions/ejections...but I really can't picture it ever getting to that point.

Good read, sir!

Not a gender issue as much as logistics, time wasted, fraternization, perception of others, and just getting it right.

teams are REQUIRED to put equip outside the dugout ... we inspect it with the assumption that what they are planning on using is there to be inspected ... we ask the coaches if teams are properly equipped ... job done.

Then, IMO, your area has OOOs.

From the NFHS comments on 201 rule changes:

I was just getting ready to post the same things. Well done. Seems you always beat me to it, even when we both take off massive amounts of time from the forum! :D

Well, at least I woke up the two of you. :D

That rule wording does say "to be inspected" as if there is a choice about which equipment. And 10-2-3 just say "Inspect equipment" w/o specifics.
Does that imply selectivity by the teams? I didn't find any interp or clarification.

Ha ha... Cecil woke me up in the nick of time! :D

Sorry I'm late for this party, but it seems pretty clear in 10-2-3a that the minimum requirement for equipment inspections is spelled out right there, where it says "including batting and catcher's helmets, [and] bats."

I suppose one could include everything that is listed in Rule 1 of the book that is not specific to the field. That would include gloves, mitts, catcher's protective equipment, and fielder's face masks. There's also Rule 3-2-11 that says shoes are required equipment. I would never go that far, but if one wanted to, there's really nothing that precludes the inspection of all those items.

As far as the extra gear I happen to see in the dugout, which is almost always invariably bats that are sticking out of bat bags, I tell the coach those need to be put out as well. I can't recall anyone giving me grief about it. But if they do, then, yes, I would say that we are within our authority to warn and then restrict for failing to respond to my request. IMO, I can use 3-6-1, and claim that until I inspect those bats, I will consider them illegal, and that if the coach doesn't allow for them to be removed or made legal (by allowing me to inspect them), then the Penalty allows me to warn and eventually restrict to the bench. I can't imagine a coach would take it that far.

I can't imagine a coach would take it that far, either, but that does not mean you are not overstepping your authority.

You reference 3-6-1, well, that rule says, in part, "Team personnel shall wear or use legal and/or required equipment."

Wear or use

It does not say anything about hanging in a bag in the dugout, nor does it say that all equipment not intended to be used in the game must be kept out of sight.

This came up last weekend...

Doing equipment inspection and see a half dozen bats in the dugout.

Me: Coach, you need to get all of your bats out here.

Coach: We only put the bats we use out here.

Me: (Pointing to bats in dugout) If I can see it, then we have to inspect it.

Coach gets the other bats...

I'm about a dozen games into the high school season and, so far, I have heard some variation of this phrase from three or four of my partners: "We're not allowed to go into the dugouts anymore".

The rule says that the umpires aren't "required" to go into the dugouts to check equipment. Somehow that's getting translated into "dugouts verboten!". I haven't seen anything that makes a dugout off limits to us.